The Betsy Ross flag is an early design for the flag of the United States that first appeared in a painting of George Washington at Trenton by John Trumbull. This flag had red stripes outermost and stars arranged in a circle. The name, first used more than 100 years after the flag appeared in a painting, stems from the legend that a Philadelphia upholsterer, Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross, designed and produced this flag.
The design of the Betsy Ross flag conformed to the Flag Act of 1777, passed early in the American Revolutionary War, which merely specified 13 alternating red and white horizontal stripes and 13 white stars in a blue canton. Today, the flag is often used as a patriotic emblem of the American Revolution and of U.S. values more broadly. According to some historians, the Betsy Ross flag (and subsequent U.S. flag designs) still retains official status as the Flag Act of 1777 was never formally repealed by the U.S. Congress.
Betsy Ross legend
Betsy Ross (1752–1836) was an upholsterer in Philadelphia who produced uniforms, tents, and flags for Continental forces. Although her manufacturing contributions are documented, a popular legend evolved in which Ross was hired by a group of Founding Fathers to make a new U.S. flag. According to the legend, she deviated from the six-pointed stars in the design and produced a flag with five-pointed stars instead. George Washington was a member of the Masonic lodge, and their use of the six-pointed star may have influenced Washington's choice of six-pointed stars for his headquarters flag. The claim by her descendants that Betsy Ross contributed to the flag's design is not accepted by modern American scholars and vexillologists.
Ross became a notable figure representing the contribution of women in the American Revolution, but how this specific design of the U.S. flag became associated with her is unknown. An 1851 painting by Ellie Sully Wheeler of Philadelphia displayed Betsy Ross sewing a U.S. flag. The National Museum of American History suggests that the Betsy Ross story first entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 Centennial Exposition celebrations.The Star-Spangled Banner, Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffrey L Brodie. Smithsonian Books/Collins Publishing (New York:2008)
In 1870, Ross's grandson, William J. Canby, presented a paper to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in which he claimed that his grandmother had "made with her hands the first flag" of the United States. Canby said he first obtained this information from his aunt Clarissa Sydney Wilson () in 1857, twenty years after Betsy Ross's death. In his account, the original flag was made in June 1776, when a small committee including George Washington, Robert Morris and relative George Ross visited Betsy and discussed the need for a new U.S. flag. Betsy accepted the job to manufacture the flag, altering the committee's design by replacing the six-pointed stars with five-pointed stars. Canby dates the historic episode based on Washington's journey to Philadelphia, in late spring 1776, a year before Congress passed the Flag Act. Ross biographer Marla Miller notes that even if one accepts Canby's presentation, Betsy Ross was merely one of several flag makers in Philadelphia, and her only contribution to the committee's design was the change in star shape from six-pointed to five-pointed.
In 1878, Col. J. Franklin Reigart published a somewhat different story in his book, "The history of the first United States flag, and the patriotism of Betsy Ross, the immortal heroine that originated the first flag of the Union." Reigart remembers visiting his great-aunt, Mrs. Betsy Ross, in 1824 during the time of General Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia. In this version, Dr. Benjamin Franklin replaces George Washington. Together with George Ross and Robert Morris, they request that Mrs. Ross design the first flag. The Canby version and the subsequent 1909 book with the Ross family affidavits never specify the arrangement of stars. Reigart, however, describes Mrs. Ross's flag with an eagle in the canton with 13 stars surrounding its head. The cover of Reigart's book shows the 13 stars in a 3-2-3-2-3 lined pattern in the canton.
The earliest connection between Betsy Ross and this flag design with 13 stars in a circle was Charles Weisgerber's 1893 painting "Birth of Our Nation's Flag." The 9 x 12-foot painting was first displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and depicts Betsy Ross with the flag on her lap. In developing his work, Weisgerber was in touch with the descendants of Betsy Ross. He would have needed a design for the flag in his painting. The most likely source of his design is the 1882 edition of History of the Flag of the United States of America by George Henry Preble, a flag scholar in the late 1800s. Preble himself did not discuss the arrangement of the stars on the 1777 design. The book's illustrators, however, did provide a flag design for the 1777 flag. The illustrators may have used the flag design from Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. Consequently, the editions of Preble's book in 1872, 1880, and 1882, all show the 1777 flag as having a circle of 13 stars. It is also possible that Weisgerber used a July 1873 issue of Harper's Weekly Magazine as his source to find out what a 1777 flag looked like. This article published one year after Preble's first edition, showed this flag with the label, "Flag Adopted by Congress, 1777."
Weisgerber later helped start the foundation that restored 239 Arch Street in Philadelphia as the Betsy Ross House, though Ross may have actually lived in the demolished house next door. Weisgerber promoted the story of Betsy Ross by sending prints of the painting to foundation donors. It was reported in 1928 that he received donations from 4 million children and adults. In 1897, the New York City School Board approved the order of framed prints for all schools in their system.
Canby account
Ross's grandson, William Canby, publicly presented a version of her story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1870. Two years later, George Henry Preble cast doubt on Canby's report in his 1872 "Our Flag: Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States of America. Canby's 1870 account remains popular American folklore, but has been the source of some debate. Although the account has supporters, there is a lack of historical evidence and documentation to support Canby's story. While modern lore may exaggerate the details of her story, Canby's account of Betsy Ross never claimed any contribution to the flag design except for the five-pointed star.
Additionally, arguments against Canby's story include: Despite Canby's efforts, he could find no records to show that the Continental Congress had a committee to design the national flag in the spring of 1776., Preface (first page) and p. 47-48 Although George Washington had been a member of the First Continental Congress, he left Congress to become commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775. Therefore, it would have been impossible for him to head a congressional committee in 1776. In letters and diaries that have surfaced, neither George Washington, Col. Ross, Robert Morris, nor any other member of Congress mentioned anything about a national flag in 1776. Six-pointed stars were used in the 1782 Great Seal that was based on the 1777 flag. The stars in the Great Seal were not changed to five-pointed stars until the Seal was recast in 1841. The Flag Resolution of June 1777 was the first documented meeting, discussion, or debate by Congress about a national flag. On May 29, 1777, Betsy Ross was paid by the Pennsylvania State Navy Board for making Pennsylvania naval flags, not the Stars and Stripes.
Supporters of Canby's story defend his account with arguments including: Robert Morris was a business partner of John Ross, Betsy's cousin by marriage. Morris was on the Marine Committee at the time the flag vote was taken as part of Marine Committee business.Letters of Delegates to Congress May 7 – September 18, 1777, Volume 7:204–6 George Washington has at least one documented transaction with John and Betsy Ross, when he bought bed hangings from them in 1774. George Washington was in Philadelphia in May and June 1776 for fifteen days. Subsequent to his meeting with Congress during this time, a committee was formed to confer with Washington on military options. The membership included George Read, the uncle of John Ross, late husband of Betsy Ross. Rachel Fletcher, Betsy Ross's daughter, gave an affidavit to the Betsy Ross story. A painting which might be dated 1851 by Ellie Wheeler, allegedly the daughter of Thomas Sully, shows Betsy Ross sewing the flag. If the painting is authentic and the date correct, the story was known nearly 20 years before Canby's presentation to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
First flag
Canby's account and similar versions of the Betsy Ross tale often refer to this design as the first U.S. flag, but there is no consensus on what the first U.S. flag looked like, nor who produced it. There were at least 17 flag makers and upholsterers who worked in Philadelphia during the time these early American flags were made. Margaret Manny is thought to have made the first American flag, but there is no evidence to prove she also made the Stars and Stripes. Other flag makers of that period include Rebecca Young, Anne King, Cornelia Bridges, and flag painter William Barrett. Hugh Stewart sold a "flag of the United Colonies" to the Committee of Safety, and William Alliborne was one of the first to manufacture United States ensigns. Any flag maker in Philadelphia could have sewn the first American flag. Even according to Canby, there were other variations of the flag being made at the same time Ross was sewing the design that would carry her name. If true, there may not be one "first" flag, but many.
The Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress passed a Flag Resolution on June 14, 1777, establishing the first congressional description of official United States ensigns. The shape and arrangement of the stars is not mentioned there were variations but the legal description legitimized the Ross flag and similar designs:
Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.
As late as 1779, the War Board of the Continental Congress had still not settled on what the Army Standard of the United States should look like. The Board sent a letter to General Washington asking his opinion, and submitting a design that included a serpent, as well as a number corresponding to the state that flew the flag.
Francis Hopkinson is given credit for a number of 13-star arrangements, including the so-called Betsy Ross design that he proposed for a $40 bill and a more likely design of five rows of stars. In a 1780 letter to the Continental Board of Admiralty dealing with the Admiralty seal, Hopkinson mentioned patriotic designs he created in the past few years, including "the Flag of the United States of America." He asked for compensation for his designs, but his claim for full compensation was rejected. Hopkinson was not the only person consulted on designing the Great Seal of the United States. Furthermore, he was a public servant and thus was already on the government's payroll.